A 10-year NBA veteran, Thomas is an accomplished poet, author, activist, public speaker and all around renaissance man in the mold of conscious professional athletes from a bygone era — when you grow up with an understanding of the legacy of living legends like Bill Russell, Jim Brown, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Muhammad Ali there is only one way to go.

Born in Harlem, raised in Tulsa and now a resident of the Washington D.C. metropolitan area, the former Syracuse and Washington Wizards (he also played with Oklahoma City Thunder and Atlanta Hawks) star is in a prime position to follow in some pretty famous footsteps … whenever he’s ready.

But before he moves on to a life in politics beyond the work he did in helping President Barack Obama get a second term, we enlisted the services of the author Fatherhood: Rising To The Ultimate Challenge, to assist our very own Lang Whitaker with some of the nuances of the job just five days into his journey as a new dad. We also debate about the Wizards and how many games they’ll win this season, discuss the impact Robert Griffin III is having on the entire region and the link Thomas has to Tulsa’s famed Booker T. Washington high school and one of its most famous alums, the late former NBA and jazz great Wayman Tisdale.

You get all of that and a complete examination of the news and headlines in the NBA on Episode 95 of the Hang Time Podcast featuring Etan Thomas, with your hosts Sekou Smith, Whitaker and Rick Fox.

4 Comments

Why are all of the commentators so afraid to criticize Kobe Bryant? He’s a great scorer, but the effect he has on his teammates is becoming more and more negative as time goes by. His comments on Pau the other day were offensive. This guy is an All-Star, and Kobe talks about him like he’s a kid. Kobe is a bully, and the only great player in my lifetime who has consistently brought out the worst in his teammates. There have been very few players who went to the Lakers and got better.